Earned Group premiums up by 2.6%

UNIQA Group Austria has succeeded in increasing retained consolidated premiums earned in the first half of 2009 by 2.6% to €2,369 million. Adjusted for the effects of exchange rate fluctuations in Eastern and South Eastern Europe, this gives a growth rate of 4.0%.

In Austria, the companies of the UNIQA Group have increased the retained premiums earned by 3.3% to €1,540 million, without additional acquisitions. In property and casualty insurance, they even managed to increase premiums by 5.3% to €651 million. The combined ratio (gross) was held at an encouragingly low level of 90.8%, despite the frequent bad weather. The growth in life insurance in Austria by 0.7% to €503 million is also very encouraging, given the stagnating to shrinking market. In health insurance, premiums in Austria rose by 3.6% to €386 million.

In Eastern and South Eastern Europe, the earned premium volume of the UNIQA Group also fell only marginally by 0.4% to €487 million on a euro basis, despite the currency devaluations. On the basis of local currencies, this equates to a growth of 6.1% and gains in market share. A significant increase in premium volume was achieved in property and casualty insurance, with premiums rising on a euro basis by 14.7% to €319 million. However, there were clear falls in life insurance – at €163 million, the premium volume is 21.3% below the value for the first half of 2008, but still around 127% higher than that of 2007. Health insurance premiums in the region increased by 37.2% to approximately €4.6 million in the first half of the year.

In Western Europe as well, the UNIQA Group managed to significantly increase retained premiums earned by 3.7% to €342 million. Premiums in property and casualty insurance fell by 6.2% to €165 million; those in health insurance (due to a change in the way premiums are reported in Switzerland) by 17%. At the same time, however, premiums earned in life insurance increased by 65.1% to €99 million.

The Group premium volume written (including the savings portion of premiums from unit- and index-linked life insurance) fell by 1.6% to €2,955 million due to the muted demand for unit-linked life insurance and fewer single premiums.

As of 30 June 2009, the portfolio of investments of the UNIQA Group rose slightly compared to the same period in 2008 to €21,772 million. Net investment income increased in the first six months of 2009 by 71.9% to €334 million. It must be noted here that the clear rise in capital income was more than offset by a strong rise in the amounts allocated to deferred profit participation in favour of policyholders and therefore had no positive impact on the results.

Due to the above mentioned developments, profit on ordinary activities of the UNIQA Group fell in the first half of the year to €35 million compared to €110 million in the same period for the previous year.

Given the ongoing high degree of volatility on the capital markets and the uncertainty surrounding the underlying conditions, it is not currently possible to provide a reliable forecast for the financial year 2009 and beyond.

Reservations concerning statements about the future

This message contains statements that refer to future developments in the UNIQA Group Austria. These statements are appraisals that are made based on all information available to us at the current point in time. If the assumptions on which they are based do not occur, the actual events may vary from the results currently expected. For this reason, we cannot accept liability for these statements.